Numbers
by Rittie
Summary: As little Kurosaki Ruri ran from a gang of criminals bent on stealing her treasured bracelet, she ends up being saved by none other than Kamishiro Ryoga, or Shark as he goes by, who ends up giving her a powerful gift that she promises to be strong enough for one day. [Ruri-centric, clearly AU/somewhat OOC since I doubt that Ruri's actual deck will be original]


**How I came up with this is beyond me... but I see her as this badass! So! here's goes this drabble!**

 **Ages: Ryoga (19), Ruri (12)**

 **Other work you need to have read first: "Bracelet"**

 _Numbers_

"Hey little girl! Come back here!"

Kurosaki Ruri ran for her life, through an oddly thick crowd as some gang chased after her. It's been over four years since the war between the XYZ and Fusion dimensions had started, yet the gangs of the former city of Heartland were as active as ever. She frowned as she looked down at her bracelet, the birthday gift her brother gave her for her eighth birthday. Her beloved brother was rarely at home now - or what they used to call home - as he had joined the Resistance about two years ago when she was ten years old. He couldn't have imagined that leaving her and her really weird and jumbled deck alone would cause so many problems, but Ruri had to do stuff to survive as he was too busy protecting their lives now. Some of that 'stuff' included attempted robbery of a passerby she saw. How could she have known that he was a well-known gang leader back in the day?

Of course, her attempt had failed and she fled. But they had given chase to her, mostly because of her bracelet, it's shiny gleam having chosen the worst time to illuminate in the waning sunlight.

"Oi! We got you..." the goons cried when she gasped as she hit a larger person. As Ruri looked up in fear, she could hear the goons behind her suddenly yelp and, confused, she wondered why.

"Y-you are..."

"Yes, I am." the person spoke, stepping over her to stand in-between her and her pursuers. "So how about you leave this little girl alone? Or we could settle this with a duel... I'm been iching for a real battle for quite some time now..."

"N-no! We won't ever stop onto your t-turf again, Shark-sama!" with that, they quickly vanished as Ruri stood up to get a good look at the person and slowly gaped. Standing in front of her was Kamishiro Ryoga (better known to some as Shark), one of the legendaries and elite duelists. What was he doing in the slumps? She watched him turn around as he reached out for something in his pocket and she froze, scared out of her wits. Ruri knew that this man was dangerous. Some even speculated that he wasn't even human, but she'd rather not stick around to find out.

"I won't hurt you." he said, getting down on one knee as his eyes caught sight of her bracelet. Her poor attempt to cover it made him chuckle. "So you are that boy's little sister?"

"You know Shun-nii?" Ruri spoke up and gasped, covering her mouth in shock. The few people she talked about would be in shock over the fact that she had talked to **the** Shark.

"I helped him pick that bracelet for you." Shark spoke. "I presume that he didn't tell you? Well, that's quite alright..." with his hand, he reached out and she realized in a somewhat stunned silence that he was holding out a card. But not just any card. It was an XYZ monster. She knew little about them, but she realized that they were rare and he was giving one of those to **her**? "Here, take this. I have a feeling that you will be able to befriend him." he smiled, putting the card into her open palm as she looked it over and realized something else.

"B-But this is! I thought they were..."

"They were." Shark confirmed. "But they came back to help us fight this... war." he sighed. "I don't need his help though. Something told me that you would make better use of him and I have a feeling that he would protect you."

Ruri stared at him as he slowly stood up and began to walk away, waving at her in a almost cheerful manner. As she watched him walk towards a blue-haired woman (his twin sister that she heard about, Kamishiro Rio?), Ruri waved back.

"I promise to befriend him, Kamishiro-san!" she called. "I..."

"Never lose hope, little bird." he called back as he and his sister left in a hurry, she dully realizing that something must have happened. Shaking her head, she looked down at the card and hoped that she would never have to use it. She alreadly treasured it too much to do so and he really wouldn't fit in her jumped deck but she knew that she had to make a choice one day. On what kind of deck she would use. Nodding to herself, Ruri kept looking at the card.

"I promise to get strong enough to use you. I need to protect my brother and ... this whole city. I hope that we will be good friends!"

For some strange reason, she felt like the shark in her hand roared back at her in a positive manner.

 **I hope that I managed to explain this reasonably. Her believing that she was not strong enough yet is also the reason why Yuuri still managed to capture her - she still believed that she wouldn't be able to use Shark Drake (kept you guessing there for a bit? Just kidding xD) to his full potential. Shark gave her that Numbers because he believed her to be a strong person, worthy of one of his former aces. He believes himself to be strong enough to manage without that Numbers too.**

 **So please don't flame if you don't have to and try to look at this from my point of view xD**

 **Thanks for reading! :)**


End file.
